Let’s talk about flooring.
When Selene and I first moved into our current house a few years ago, we had a couple of things that we wanted to take care of before actually hauling all of our stuff over. For starters, the walls needed fresh coats of paint. Easy enough, right? But what was really bothersome was the carpet. The carpet was gross.
The carpet had to go.
And in it’s place, we imagined a pleasant laminate floor. Something in a light grey, perhaps. Yeah, light grey seemed nice and neutral.
Now… if you only ever watch one video on installing laminate flooring, it seems like a difficult and laborious process—too much to tackle for two eager, new homeowners. But you can’t stop with the first one, of course. Watch another! By the second or third video, your confidence starts to build. And by the fourth or fifth, you might even say something like, “Yeah! We can totally do this!” You’re hooked.
With enough YouTube videos, anything seems possible.
You ride that boost of confidence long enough to rip out all of the carpet. It’s tiring work, but it had to go—you’ll tell yourself that a lot. And once it’s gone? Well, you’re kind of locked into the project. But now you’re in for a treat, however, as you discover the terrible subfloor that the carpets were hiding.
Terrible, uneven subfloors. You can’t put laminate flooring on an uneven subfloor. It just doesn’t work. It has to be installed on a flat surface.
Don’t worry, there’s YouTube videos for that, too. Go ahead, learn how to level floors. But this time, it’ll take a few more videos. Seven? Eight? The initial rush is gone, but you’re still chasing that feeling of confidence. You need that confidence. You can’t work without it.
Shake it off. It’ll all be okay.
You level the subfloor. And then you spend days and days endlessly interlocking tongues into groves. Your laminate floor starts to take shape.
But what about the trim? Carpet is so much taller than laminate flooring, the baseboards are no longer at the right height! Guess they’ll have to go, too. Rip them out. Install new ones. I mean, you can’t stop here. But… mitred corners are a bitch.
Don’t worry, friend. Don’t worry. There’s YouTube videos for that! But this time… it’s just not the same. You’re fifteen videos deep into a rabbit hole. You can’t seem to stop. The angles aren’t making sense. 45 degrees? 45.5? 47? Inside corners? What about for outside corners? It’s 3am. Just one more video. You black out.
And when you wake up, you’re standing in the middle of a hardware store, clutching a mitre saw. You question what it took to bring you to this point. How did it get so bad? All you wanted was to simply get rid of the carpets. And then the floors were uneven. And the baseboards… and…
Don’t even get me started on stairs.
But eventually, we got it done. It was exhausting.
And when you complete small sections, you rejoice by laying on them.
If we had to do it all over again, I think we would hire a contractor. Installing a floor once per lifetime is enough.
Good morning and happy Monday, friends!
This week really kicked my butt. Roughly ten days of going non-stop and regularly working until 2 or 3am, I was not very kind to myself. Sometime around Friday afternoon, I hit full burnout. I was mixing up dates and schedules. I started replying to the wrong email threads. I was making just about zero sense. Oh well, I had a good run!
Our car did not have a good run, however. It had a very, very flat tire. See? Even the vehicles got tired of running around.
The happier news is that people around here are getting less sick!
On Friday night, I decided to give myself a break. I took a nap. I also finally did something that I’ve been planning to do for a few months: watching Tron: Ares. And you know what, people? I’m not ashamed to say that I really enjoyed it. I love the concept of computer programs being expressed anthropomorphically… with wants and desires… and agency.
Actually, I think that concept was a lot cooler back in the 80’s and 90’s when it seemed all like a fantasy—when we didn’t have so much AI constantly circling around our heads. Now it’s more like a terrifying reality that could potentially be lurking around any corner.
But hey, who doesn’t like the classic vibe of light cycles on The Grid?
On Saturday afternoon, I gave my WitchCon presentation about scrying and dark mirrors. I will shamelessly plug the fact that much of this info is expanded upon in my upcoming book, Fluid Condensers, which you can pre-order now!
The presentation went great! At least, I think it did. There was a good collection of folks in the chat asking questions and carrying on the discussion, which made it more like a conversation and less like just talking into the void. If you were in attendance, thank you for being an awesome audience—and you can find the slides, as promised, over on my Patreon.
On Saturday evening we went out for hotpot, which also kicked my butt.
I couldn’t decide on the broth! The waitress recommended the “Szechuan Spicy” flavor… and that’s what I went with.
Well, it lived up to the word “spicy” in its name. I coughed. I struggled. My lips tingled and my tongue even went kind of numb at one point. But it was delicious and I would do it again.
Now I must return to endless pages of my manuscript. I’ve only got one more month left to finish! Stay tuned for more soon!
Aerik Arkadian 
Leave a comment